Reaction of Amaranthus hybridus L. (Green) to Telfairia Mosaic Virus (TeMV) Infection

The reaction of Amaranthus hybridus to Telfairia mosaic virus (TeMV) infection was investigated. Infected and healthy (control) leaf samples were obtained, pulverized and analyzed to determine the nutritional quality of the vegetable due to TeMV infection. Results obtained revealed that the virus caused significant (p<0.05) reductions in fibre (50.9%), fat (49.7%) and protein (32.5%) in infected samples compared to healthy ones. The virus also engendered significant reductions in the contents of Na, P, Fe, Mg, Cu and Ca with marginal reduction for K in infected samples when compared to the healthy. The TeMV caused significant reduction in phytic acid while infection led to increases in total oxalate, soluble oxalate and hydrocyanide acid. The virus caused significant reductions (p<0.05) in vitamin A (55.43%), C (43.1%), B1 (34.6%), B2 (26.6%), B6 (17.8%) and B3 (13.1%), respectively while, reduction in vitamin E was insignificant. The reaction of amino acids profile of Amaranthus hybridus to TeMV infection revealed significance decrease in methionine (35.3%), valine (34.1%), cysteine (31.9%), arginine (26.1%), isoleucine (25.9%), glycine (22.8%), lysine (17.3%), threonine (15.0%), phenylalanine (12.1%) and leucine (11.8%). Increases in infected samples were obtained for glutamic acid (19.8%), aspartic acid (9.5%) and proline (8.9%). Amaranthus hybridus reaction to TeMV infection revealed marked reductions in the nutritional quality of the vegetable that is a major source of nutrient for both rural and urban dwellers.